In the End
by YLJedi
Summary: OneShot. Prince of Thieves. Robin is sick, and the whole camp rushes about, trying desperately to get their leader well. All except for Will Scarlett. Until one day...


There was no danger. Not anymore. The sickness had passed for the most part. Locksley was going to live. There was really nothing to be gained from this now, Will thought. He had made it abundantly clear that he did not care what happened to Locksley; he had been the only one that had not offered assistance to Robin's main caretakers during the long, anxious days and nights. He was the only one who didn't ask about him whenever Azeem, Fanny, or John stepped outside. He was the only one who did not seem to care whether their leader lived or died; others noticed and grew angry at his callousness.

He didn't know why he was doing this. There was no point. He didn't know what he was going to do, what he was going to say or even what he wanted to say. But still he found himself outside Robin's hut.

No caretaker was there right now—the last one, Fanny, had left to get something to eat. Will stepped inside. There was a crude bed and an even cruder chair next to it. Robin was lying in the bed, under several thin blankets. He was sleeping, but restlessly, and he looked just awful.

Will sat in the chair. For a while he couldn't bring himself to do anything but study his own hands, but then he finally glanced up at his…at the leader of the outlaw band. Locksley was pale and sweat beaded his forehead. He still looked bad in Will's eyes, and the verdict was that he was much better. _Sheesh_. Scarlett played with a loose thread on one of the blankets as he sat by Robin's side. He didn't say anything, and he really wasn't thinking about anything. He wasn't thinking about Robin, or about his sickness, or about the camp, or about all the problems with Nottingham. No, he wasn't thinking about those things or anything else, because he wasn't letting himself think about anything. He didn't want to think; he just wanted to be there. And so he sat there and messed with the threads in the blankets. He didn't even think about why he wanted to be there. He just knew that he wanted to know that, in the end, he had been there. Despite his indifference in the beginning, in the end, he wanted to be here.

Robin groaned and Will looked up at him. Seeing that Locksley was starting to wake up; Will stood up to leave, but just as he turned to go, Robin began having a small coughing fit. Scarlett took a few more steps to the door, and then stopped, unsure. Robin continued to cough more violently. Will glanced around and saw a pitcher of water with a small cup sitting next to it.

Robin could not stop coughing. He felt like he was hacking up his lungs, but his throat was too sore to allow the lungs through—oh, how it hurt. Then someone was handing him a cup of water. The cup was placed in his hand and then the person was helping Robin lean forward and guide the cup to his lips. Gratefully and greedily Robin sipped the precious liquid. His coughing quieted down. The hands took the cup from him and Robin lay back down on the bed, exhausted.

He opened his eyes and blinked several times to adjust to the light and then to the figure he was seeing.

"Will?" he croaked out in surprise. The young man slowly made eye contact with Robin and lifted one side of his mouth in an embarrassed sort of half-smile. He nodded.

Locksley continued to stare at him in puzzled and tired wonder, and Will quickly went back to examining his hands. He didn't leave though. Robin was too weary to think of anything else to say, but even if he had been able to, he didn't think he would have said anything. Instead he just stared at Will who in turn stared at his hands. But then he felt he had to say it again.

"Will," he rasped out again. But this time Will didn't look up. He did not lift his head up; he just kept studying his oh-so-interesting hands. When he realized Will was not going to respond, Robin leaned his head back down with a weary sigh and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, there were several figures crowding around.

"Will?" Robin mumbled in confusion.

"You're awake," John cheerfully remarked, and Robin slowly brought them all into focus. John, Fanny, Wulf, and Azeem were gathered around him. "You gave us a bloody scare there."

"Where's Will?"

"What are you talking about?" Fanny asked cheerfully as she wet a rag and began to wipe off his face. Robin shrugged away from her ministrations.

"Will. He was here."

Wulf laughed incredulously. "Will Scarlett? He was the only one who was _not_ here. The entire camp has been here helping take care of you except for Will."

Robin stared at Wulf in confusion. That couldn't be. Will had been here. Hadn't he? He had been so sure. He looked around the room as if Scarlett would pop up out of a secret hiding place, or that the walls would give him the truth. But neither happened, and he slowly returned his gaze to Wulf. But he had been so sure.

He looked at Azeem. Azeem was Will's friend too; he would know. Azeem looked down and quietly answered Locksley's unspoken question. "Will has not even asked about you at all during your illness."

Robin just continued to stare at Azeem in disbelief. That couldn't be. Hadn't even asked about him?

"But he was here," Robin whispered hoarsely.

"You probably just dreamed it dear," Fanny said soothingly.

The others began to tell him about how long he had been sick, and what had been happening in the village while he was out of it. During their narrative, Robin tried to shake himself out of his melancholy. Really, he didn't know why he was depressed or even surprised that Will hadn't been here. Scarlett hated him, it was a known fact. But still…he had been so sure he'd been there!

Another coughing fit seized him. Fanny quickly poured some water and handed him the cup. He drank it down, and the coughing spasm passed. He thanked her and started to hand the cup back, and then paused. His eyes bored into the glass.

He remembered throughout his sickness several episodes like this. He would wake up in a terrible coughing fit, and someone would give him a glass of water. Fanny had done it before, Azeem had done it before, so had John and Wulf, and a couple of the other womenfolk around.

And so had Will. Robin remembered that. Will had given him some water the last time he had a coughing fit. He remembered that. Will had been there.

He absently gave the cup back to Fanny, lost in his thoughts. Had Scarlett said anything? Robin couldn't remember. In fact, all he could really remember was Will helping him drink some water, and then he remembered seeing Will sitting in the chair. That's all he remembered, and maybe that was all that happened. But that didn't matter; what did matter was that he was right.

Robin wondered why he felt so…happy at the thought that Will had been there. The others had been there, far more often and they had helped Robin through coughing spasms too. He supposed it was mainly because it showed Scarlett didn't hate him too much. Nobody wanted to be hated, or at least Locksley didn't, especially not by one of his own men. So it was nice to know that Scarlett did care a little bit. And besides that, Robin really kind of liked Will. He was different from many of the villagers. He was smart (although Robin loved his band of outlaws, besides a select few, his men really weren't the brightest bunch), and he was quick. Sometimes, and secretly, Robin really enjoyed the verbal sparring Will would engage him in, because Scarlett was very quick with the smart-aleck remarks. And then others times when Will had stopped his antagonism of Robin for awhile, Scarlett could turn out to be a really halfway nice guy. So it was hard for Locksley not to kind of like him.

But there was more to it than that, Robin knew, but he couldn't explain it properly, even to himself. There was just something at times, almost familiar about Will. And even that really wasn't right. It was just that every once in a while, Will would do something, or there would be an expression on his face that made Robin think…well, it wasn't even substantial enough to be a thought, it was more just a slight feeling he had every once in a while that he was missing something. And then, when he had seen Will sitting in the chair there, it had felt like he had found that something, even though now he couldn't say what it was, and it was already gone again. But still, at that time, that something had been there.

The others were leaving, going to let him rest, they said. He remembered his manners enough to thank them for all their help. Azeem stayed behind, clearly wanting to say something after they others had all left.

"Christian,"

"He was here," Robin interrupted. Azeem frowned at this, and tried again.

"He could not have been," he said gently.

"Why not?" Robin shot back.

Azeem sighed. He did not understand why Robin was being so persistent and defiant about this. "Because someone has been with you at every moment of your illness, and Will has not been one of them, and no one has reported that Will came in here. And trust me, that would have been big news."

Robin practically rolled his eyes. "I don't care what you say, Azeem. He was here and I know it."

Azeem wanted to argue more; even though he was a good friend of Will's, the man's callousness towards Robin had angered the Moor, and he didn't want Robin to think anything but the truth about what Scarlett had done during his illness. But Robin would not hear anything more Azeem had to say on the subject, that much was clear.

Azeem left the hut, and Robin watched him leave. He knew Azeem didn't believe him. Which was actually surprising, considering Azeem was friendly toward Will; he would have thought the Moor would have been more willing to think kindly of Scarlett. But he hadn't. But did it truly matter if Azeem knew that Will had been there? Robin knew Will had been there. Robin knew. And in the end, to Locksley, that's all that mattered.

**

Man, I haven't been back to this fandom in awhile. But it was really fun to do a Robin Hood story again. I hope y'all liked it. I think I might have some more ideas for some one-shots that I might be able transfer into stories, so hopefully I'll be back to this fandom again soon. Hope y'all have a great day!

--Jedi


End file.
